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That's one of the rules I've already mentioned, and I've already discussed why it didn't really accomplish anything. Moreover, it didn't even attempt to do what you just proposed.
EDIT: Also, that report shows that 63% did comply entirely within that timeframe. At least from the standpoint of "can you do this", the answer seemed to be "yes" for the thing that rule wanted. They're reporting failure as failing in any component, so I'm sure that'll be cleaned up in a few more years.
The government said "publish price transparency" and a third of hospitals just said "no." The remaining 2/3s published random nonsense. And there were penalties for this!
Because the price doesn't matter.
It's pure cost disease. Zero value.
Everyone has one or more ideas like this that don't do anything useful at all and increase costs and complexity.
And then they get mad when shit is expensive or the doctor can't spend time with you and explain things but they have tons of nonsensical administrative work.
If you are going to make things more expensive do it in a way that provides some value, but better yet don't make things more expensive for no reason especially if you are going to complain about costs.
This is (and you are proposing additional) regulation that adds nothing of value and increases the administrative burden that is already a third of healthcare spending.
Nah, man. They didn't ask for anything like you suggested. And two thirds complied fully within a pretty short time frame, because what they asked for obviously could be done. I'm sure in a couple more years, that number will be higher.
Just do it. Just do what you know you can already do. What you already admitted that you can do; it was a lie before when you said you couldn't. You already admitted that you do do from time to time. We've been through every objection, in detail. I've responded, in detail. You're all out of excuses at this point and are just resting on speculative claims that it could possibly take a modicum of effort. Boo hoo. Grow up. They're literally shooting your people on the streets of New York City. Others are cheering. Stop lying to yourself and to others. Actually inform your patients and actually get informed consent. You probably will like the haphazard results that will follow if you don't clean up your act less.
No they are shooting people who work for insurance. The people who are the problem. Hospitals, patients, and physicians all get screwed by insurance.
Informed consent has nothing to do with price, because the price doesn't matter. We discuss the risks and benefits of a given medical treatment. The cost is between you and your insurance and/or the government. This is to some extent by law (for instance emergency care).
I also can't promise you a price or cost or charge before hand. That remains unchanged. I can get you rough estimates maybe, depending on the thing. That's not the same.
You have yet to explain how providing more detail on cost, price, or charges adds any value to the system.
First, hilariously naive that you think you'll be spared if the anger boils over into something like regulation. Second, if you're going to claim that they're the problem, tell me how you're going to fix it. I don't want to hear you just complaining and finger pointing; I want solutions. How are you going to start cleaning up this mess?
Price is part of the costs/benefits. You are practicing medicine unethically if you are not properly informing your patients of the costs/benefits.
Not a strict promise. We've been through this. You know this. You know that you can do better.
It is unethical to perform a procedure on a patient before acquiring informed consent. It's basic decency in business practice. It's good to stop lying to people and telling them that you can't do something that you know you can. I'd think in recent years, you'd be a bit in tune with the idea that if your profession is being seen as lying to the public, it can cause a significant reduction in your status and credibility. Conversely, if you start doing the basic thing, patients will have more faith in the medical system, believing that the market is operating more fairly and that they are not being overcharged for services. This fosters greater societal trust in the medical system and encourages broader participation in preventive and other health measures. Price transparency is an important component of many properties of markets. It can affect people's decision-making and allocate resources more efficiently. It reduces information asymmetry. It reduces surprises and the anger they generate. When patients know the cost of their treatment options, they can plan financially, leading to higher adherence to prescribed treatments. For example, patients who know they can afford the cost of necessary medications or follow-up procedures are more likely to stick with the treatment regimen, leading to better health outcomes. It speeds up price discovery, increases consumer welfare, and it can also be linked to encouraging innovation. The Nobel prize that Stigler got for this sort of stuff was looooooong ago.
You have yet to explain how doing everything you can to hide prices, lying to people, telling them it's impossible adds any value to the system.
I have explained repeatedly that explaining prices is misleading and confusing for that reason it adds no value. It also has costs because these things are confusing and constantly shifting. You want to make healthcare more expensive and confusing.....for why? Idle curiosity?
The benefits and risks of a procedure are clinical thing, the costs are not part of informed consent, because the costs are unknowable, because even if we knew with 100% surety what our costs are, we don't know what the insurance company is going to do. That is fundamental.
Great so you admit that you think that increased price transparency will have financial benefits - that's a good bet in a market system. Healthcare is not a market. It does not function like a market. Supply and demand curves are totally fucked. Regulations impair things.
If two hospitals post a price for a gallbladder removal and one is 5,000 dollars, and the other is 2,500 dollars, and the patient goes to the latter they could end up with a bill for 300,000 dollars when the more expensive surgery would have been free. Increased price awareness does not help patients make decisions.
If it does anything at all except add administrative burden then it results in a financial transfer from hospitals to insurance companies, which is not ideal.
Not giving prices is more misleading and confusing. Hence the legislation efforts and assassinations. Stop acting like people are so stupid that they can't understand costs/benefits. Inform your patients, just like you do with medical costs/benefits, even though there is also a knowledge gap there, too. Stop practicing unethically.
I'm hoping we don't go there, but you need to fix things. Ask the techies in the IoT space how just stomping their feet, refusing to do anything, and resting on, "Regulation is bad, m-kay," worked for them.
This is utterly false and is completely unsupportable. You couldn't imagine saying such a thing for any other industry, because it's nonsensical.
I'm glad that you had no problem with the entire rest of my list of benefits. Given that the only benefit you gave on your side rests on the assumption that everyone else is too stupid (a bad assumption) that you need to be appointed to keep them in the dark and make all their choices for them (which isn't likely to help, anyway; how are you currently preventing them from going to the hospital where they happen to end up with the bill for $300k?), I think it's pretty clear that your approach is not helping. It's hurting. It unethical. It's bad business practice. It's bad economics. There is nothing good about what you are doing.
NYT had a doctor apologist op-ed this morning. Hilariously skewed, of course, but they also disagreed with you.
Costs matter. Inform your patients. Stop lying and saying that they don't. I've given you a long list of reasons; compared to your one, extremely terrible reason for doing what you're doing, the choice is clear.
Costs matter for some things, you gave a good example which is drugs. We will set people up with GoodRx, use generics, inform people of choices they can make amongst similar options and so on.
That is not what you are talking about though, you are suggesting that hospital services provide information on some combination of cost/price/charges.....but those things don't matter to patients.
What your insurance does with that service at that hospital is not something the hospital is in charge of and therefore completely untethers this information from decision making.
The more expensive option is very often cheaper for the patient.
Medicine is not like other industries. I don't know how many times I can tell you this. We are often legally prohibited from considering cost or making less expensive choices. Your intuitions are wrong and do not apply.
If you would like to make medicine like other fields then propose that. It may even be a better state, but most people have decided that the drawbacks are unacceptable.
Medical care in the U.S. does not function as a market. If you assume it will function as a market you will be wrong about your conclusions.
If you would like it to function as a market....don't push it further away from a market by adding on more regulatory burden and unnecessary complexity.
Awesome. I'm glad we've made progress. Start giving prices. Sometimes, they won't matter. Do it anyway. Sometimes, they matter. You can do it. Just do it.
Wouldn't it be nice if they had a way of getting this information? Perhaps you could help. You could, for example, share the information that you have with them. You've agreed that you do have relevant information. We all know that it's not perfect, but it can be useful. You've agreed that you do give it to patients sometimes. Just do it.
We are talking about patient choices.
Mostly because you do shit like lie and hide prices. Stop hurting. Start helping.
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